Tottenham Hotspur fans have gone into meltdown after video footage emerged showing Crystal Palace players celebrating on the streets of Florence following their Europa Conference League quarter-final win.
Palace progressed over two legs and are now into the semi-finals, but it was the scenes afterwards — players singing and dancing late into the night — that grabbed attention.
Palace celebrations spark backlash
Mobile phone clips circulating on social media showed the squad enjoying themselves after the win. And to put it mildly, the jolly-up hasn’t gone down well in certain quarters of North London.
With Palace facing West Ham on Monday, some Spurs fans have taken issue with what they see as far from ideal preparation.
Wharton sighting adds to frustration
To add fuel to the fire, Adam Wharton — who went off injured against Fiorentina and looks likely to miss the game at Selhurst Park — was spotted front and centre in the celebrations.
That hasn’t exactly helped calm things down.
Glasner unapologetic
Palace boss Oliver Glasner was having none of the criticism.
“This was the same that the Frankfurt players asked me after winning the quarter-final.
“I agreed a few years ago that the players can go out and I agreed tonight that the players can go out.
“That is exactly the same and I hope the ending of the story will be exactly the same.”
History offers West Ham hope
There is an interesting precedent.
After Eintracht Frankfurt’s quarter-final win over Barcelona in 2022, Glasner allowed his players a night out — and they went on to lose their next Bundesliga game 2-0.
West Ham won’t be complaining if history repeats itself.
I would imagine this happens a lot with clubs, but is often kept quiet. Spurs fans will be making a big deal of it to make sure Palace put on a big performance against us, I’m not sure I like where this is leading. Let’s hope Palace don’t rise to the bait
I’ve played some of my best football with a hangover
😂😂
I’d be very interested to hear a story Peter